...we tend to grow.
Grow Local Colorado is a group of volunteers dedicated to promoting local food, local community, and local economy.
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Donate here through our partnering organizations, Beanstalk Foundation and Colorado Gives.
Enter your information and then add GROW LOCAL COLORADO into the “special instructions or comments for nonprofit” section. Beanstalk will then forward your generous and tax deductible gift to us! |
Grow Local Colorado's Response to COVID-19
Grow Local Colorado has been growing in our community since 2009. We started out with one garden in Denver's Civic Center Park and five volunteers. We now grow in over a dozen locations and have over 400 volunteers dedicating 1,200 hours every season. Over the past eleven years our gardens have provided more than 25,000 pounds of local, organic, fresh produce to more than a dozen organizations serving those with limited access to healthy food. Our mission is to promote sustainability, food equity and local community. In 2020 we took on additional garden sites to meet the growing demand for produce at food pantries and shelters because of COVID-19's impact on the economy.
Due to budget cuts resulting from COVID's impact on the economy Denver Parks and Recreation allowed us to grow in eight flower beds in Civic Center Park versus our usual two. We went from growing around 350 pounds of produce at this park to 1,400 pounds thanks to the extra space. Our many community partners including Slow Food Denver, Returned Peace Corp Volunteers, and Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado provided us with groups of energetic and dedicated volunteers who ensured the gardens were well tended and thus very productive. This year Parks is allowing us to grow in two additional beds in Civic Center. These will be dedicated to edible perennials. Yet another way to demonstrate sustainability in a high traffic area.
In response to COVID-19's impact on food insecurity in our community we joined forces with other local non-profits to create a coalition, Grow Food Feed People. Our partners include Denver Urban Gardens, Metro Caring, Ekar Farms, Big Green, CSU Extension, Fresh Food Connect, Slow Food Denver and The Table. We are pooling our resources to reduce costs while increasing harvests. In 2020 this group of dedicated organizations grew and donated 60,000 pounds of food. Our goal for 2021 is to increase our harvests to 70,000 pounds. Denver Greenhouse, which usually grows flower starts for Denver's parks, will be growing thousands of vegetable seedlings for our members. This is a significant gift as the value of those seedlings is over $10,000.
In response to COVID-19's impact on food insecurity in our community we joined forces with other local non-profits to create a coalition, Grow Food Feed People. Our partners include Denver Urban Gardens, Metro Caring, Ekar Farms, Big Green, CSU Extension, Fresh Food Connect, Slow Food Denver and The Table. We are pooling our resources to reduce costs while increasing harvests. In 2020 this group of dedicated organizations grew and donated 60,000 pounds of food. Our goal for 2021 is to increase our harvests to 70,000 pounds. Denver Greenhouse, which usually grows flower starts for Denver's parks, will be growing thousands of vegetable seedlings for our members. This is a significant gift as the value of those seedlings is over $10,000.
Thanks to support from our community, we will add two more garden sites in 2021. Our successful partnership with South High School in 2020 has led to us add Thomas Jefferson High School's garden to our sites. We will share our joy of and commitment to gardening with students. If you live in that part of town and want to help inspire young gardeners, we would love to see you at this site.
Grow Local has been able to grow thanks to our many partnerships. One of our longest running partnerships is with Slow Food Denver. They stepped up this season and rounded up volunteers to help at several of our garden sites. On the other end of the partnership spectrum is Evolve Vacation Rental. They helped us at Civic Center Park last fall. They were so impressed with the volume and purpose of the harvest that they want to become more involved this year.
To be able to significantly increase our food donations we need even more volunteers. If you can help once a week or even once a month, we can find a site for you. And if you have a group that would like to be involved that is even better. Email us at GrowLocalColorado@gmail.com. Together we can and will make a healthy difference in 2021.
We Tend To Grow,
Barbara and Linda
Co-directors
We Tend To Grow,
Barbara and Linda
Co-directors
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